Reaction Time!
by: Brandon Richey–Get More Updates And Training Guides Here
Reaction Time!
So the other day I was surfing around the internets and came across a very interesting movie trailer. It was for the brand new Mad Max Fury Road starring Tom Hardy. As a teenager I remember seeing the movie Mad Max for the first time with Mel Gibson. It was certainly a wild flick.
Reaction Time…
So if you’re not familiar with the story it takes place in a post apocalyptic world where a bunch of mad barbarians are continuously fighting over fuel as the key resource while battling it out in some of the most wild road fighting scenes in a bunch of post apocalyptic hot rods. And they do this in what appears to be the desert. I’m just guessing that’s probably what most of a post apocalyptic world might look like assuming we all went nuclear.
Here’s one way you can go nuclear with your workouts!
Nevertheless, the film was quite a rush and it appears that they have decided to create another one which is set to release next year. If you haven’t seen the trailer for this then no worries because ‘ole BR has come to the rescue!
Now you can see why this movie preview got a reaction out of me. As a matter of fact along with my reaction of jumping out of my seat to finally see what appears to be the makings of a quality movie I was reminded of just that…the importance of reaction time.
That’s right, reaction time should be an essential ingredient of every strength program and it’s an element that I’ve surprisingly seen many athletes ignore in many cases over the years. One way I’ve been able to tell this is by incorporating drills that require the athlete to physically engage in ways that specifically foster their ability to handle both factors of speed and coordination.
If the athlete struggles to execute such drills then there is a lack of adaptation with that athlete involving these particular factors. As an example how many times have you heard the old sports quote that says He looks like Tarzan, but plays like Jane?
Ok now hold your horses before you start screaming sexism. I didn’t come up with the quote I’m just using it to illustrate my point. The point is that many athletes spend a lot of time walking into the weight room and getting stronger, but I’ve witnessed many of them doing this at the expense of honing and developing their overall athleticism.
Speed Strength: The ability of the neuromuscular system to produce the greatest reaction or impulse in the shortest amount of time.
I mean lifting weights is great and one great way to develop the characteristics of speed and coordination using weights is through some means of Olympic lifting. Olympic lifting fosters the development of speed strength and is great for this given purpose, however I believe that Olympic lifting by itself is not quite enough to achieve the most optimal level of physical preparedness concerning speed strength.
The reason for this is that there are only so many ways you can lift a barbell in an Olympic fashion. Additionally other factors such as time, resources, and variety may place restrictions on the trainee if there is a pursuit to achieve an optimal level of reaction time in order to compete at life and sport.
So what are some other ways to develop reaction time/speed strength? Well I’m glad you asked my young strength training Jedi! Some other great ways to supplement Olympic lifting would be to engage in activities such as plyometrics and various other power drills such as medicine ball slams and throws.
A great example for developing significant reaction time with some medicine ball throws would be to engage in some woodchopper medicine ball slams as I’m showing here.
As you can see the characteristic of speed is a key element here in executing this particular drill. Once again I’m by no means discouraging Olympic lifting variations I’m merely just pointing out that there are other great options to engage in order to acquire that heavily sought after speed component.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post and will apply what I’ve provided here to help you survive in a Mad apocalyptic world! If you have any questions or want to add on with your own experience then make sure you post up a comment below in the box. Keep training smart.
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Reaction Time!
